


Rappuccino

by antelopunny



Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29580090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antelopunny/pseuds/antelopunny
Summary: Calliope, a self-proclaimed 'up-and-coming' SoundCloud rapper, is forced to take a job at the local GawrBucks after her roommate, Ina, has to help cover her rent for the third month in a row. While struggling to make ends meet, fortune finally comes her way in the form of a childhood friend named Kiara. Now a part-time idol, full-time burger chain CEO and all-time richest woman in the country, Kiara's just as infatuated with Calliope as she was when they were kids.It turns out that money doesn't solve everything, though, and Kiara bursting into her life like a phoenix from the ashes brings a whole new set of problems. Calliope asks herself: does she even like Kiara back, or does she just want the dollars in her pocket? How can she make it big in the music world without being seen as a leech riding on the coattails of Kiara's success? Why is even the CEO of GawrBucks herself so intent on matchmaking them? And justwhatin the underworld is the 'Cult of YAGOO'?(A self-indulgent story about how creating is hard as hell, being successful is even harder, and why we should all keep trying anyway.)
Relationships: Gawr Gura/Watson Amelia, Mori Calliope/Takanashi Kiara
Comments: 19
Kudos: 92





	Rappuccino

**Author's Note:**

> So I was listening to Calli's new song "Off With Their Heads", and her lines about how her back broke over and over to make it to where she is now really resonated with me. Long story short, I'm a 'failed' author myself who has written four manuscripts, and none of them got picked up by any publisher. The only one I managed to self-publish did extremely poorly and I didn't even make back the paper it was printed on. I gave up on writing years ago and fell back onto my 'sensible' degree to get a 'stable' 9-5 job, but deep down, writing something people would truly be moved by has always been a dream of mine.
> 
> Well, after listening to her song... this happened. It might not be an original piece, but hey, whatever gets you creating again is good, right? I've been an avid reader of fanfiction since my teens but this is my first time writing one, so if I trip up on anything, do let me know!
> 
> With that said, please enjoy!

Calliope has, frankly, dealt with so many haters in her life that nothing that could say would bring her down. She’s been called delusional, irresponsible, a wanna-be, a never-will-be and, by her own parents, ‘no one wants to hear a woman rap’. She doesn’t give a shit what other people think. This is her life and if she gets sent to the underworld sooner than she gets a thousand plays on SoundCloud, so be it. She’d rather die trying than live a long life as someone she isn’t meant to be.

Some things in life, however, don’t care about how much Calliope ‘doesn’t give a fuck’.

“Rent,” Ina says calmly, and only when she places her hand on the desk does Calliope realize she’s even in the room. “Calli.”

“Oh, hey Ina,” Calliope laughs, taking her headphones off. “Whaddya need? I’m in the groove right now, so...”

Ina smiles, looking as serene as can be, before slowly repeating a word that is absolutely the opposite of serene in every definition: “Rent. Calli, it’s due tomorrow.”

“Fuck,” Calliope blurts loudly, before her eyes fly across the date on the bottom-right of her monitor. “Holy shit, it’s the end of the month already? I completely lost track of time, I’m so sorry, I...”

She looks up at Ina, who is still smiling, though that somehow makes Calliope feel even worse. “...I’ll pay you back,” Calliope promises, even though she’s perfectly aware of how she said that about last month’s rent, and the month before that too, and, holy shit, Calli, how did this end up this way? “I promise, Ina, I promise! I am so, SO sorry, I just... I need more time, you feel me?”

“I feel you,” Ina answers, and though her expression remains calm, there’s something of an imperceptible sigh in her tone. “I’ll cover your portion for this month.”

“Oh, _thank you!”_ Calliope immediately throws herself off the shitty half-broken office chair and plants her forehead on the ground near Ina’s feet. It’s probably an over-the-top gesture, but in this moment, Ina is more tangible than any god Calliope’s randomly picked and prayed to, if only because she’s gobsmacked Ina hasn’t evicted her by now. “Thank you, thank you!”

“Please get up,” Ina says rather pleadingly, and Calliope promptly obeys, scrambling back onto her feet. She’s nearly twice of Ina’s height, but somehow, as Ina crosses her arms and strains her neck to meet Calliope’s eye level, Calliope feels unbearably _small._ “You’re a great, great friend, Calli, and I don’t mean to trouble you. It’s just... you know this can’t continue.”

As Ina’s smile drop, so does Calliope’s heart in her chest. “I know,” Calliope sighs in response. Living rent-free in this city is a little too good to be true, and Ina’s not some super-rich gazillionaire— in fact, she’s a struggling artist herself, the kind who hunch over their tablet while working on their next commission. And even if Ina wasn’t, Calliope knows that ‘haha I posted like eight super-fire tracks last month but they got no traction so I’ve spent the entirety of this month super depressed wanting to d-word so I’ve got even less to show for today but hey the grind never stops teehee’ isn’t exactly a rock-solid excuse for not having enough cash for rent, again.

A rather uncomfortable silence falls over the both of them, and Calliope closes her eyes with a groan. “I’ll get another job,” she declares, and Ina’s eyes widen in surprise. Calliope almost immediately regrets her words, because there already aren’t enough hours in the day, but fuck it. “Clearly, I’m not making enough on my current one, so... I’ll get a second job, just for a while, to save up enough and pay you back. Sounds good?”

“Thank you,” Ina says with a nod. “But you don’t have to push yourself. I know how much waitressing already drains you...”

“It’s fine,” Calliope lies. No, it’s not at all fine, and she has no idea how she’s going to get the shifts of two different jobs to work together, not to mention the whole issue of whether her sanity will remain intact while hauling some 80 hour work weeks. But she’s a woman of integrity, dammit, and she’s not going to let a debt remain unpaid. “You know, I saw a 24/7 GawrBucks opening just a minute from our apartment. Maybe they’ll hiring! Who knows?”

“A GawrBucks?” Ina blinks in surprise. “Well, I suppose if it’s close by, it’ll be easier on you. If you get hired, maybe I’ll swing by for a drink, too.”

“Haha, please don’t,” Calliope wheezes, if only because Ina’s a nice girl and she doesn’t want her to witness ‘work mode’ Calli. The legends are true, Ina, and her death stare really _will_ pierce the souls of men more sharply than the scythes of a reaper. “I mean, um, well, I’d need to get hired first, right? So I’d better get to it!”

Ina walks back out of Calliope’s room. “I’ll leave you to work, then. Good luck, Calli. And it’s late, you should probably eat something soon.”

“Oh yeah, I probably should,” Calliope says, suddenly cognizant of how she hasn’t eaten all day and she demolished her last cup of instant noodles last night. Ina gives her a polite wave before closing the door, and Calliope makes sure her roommate is out of earshot before slumping in her chair, putting her face in her hands, and screaming.

\-----

Surprisingly, not only does Calliope get hired, but her first few days as a GawrBucks barista go pretty smoothly. Her coworker, Amelia— or Ame, as she wanted to be called— is pretty nice, which is already an upgrade from the people she deals with at her certain other job that shalt not be named. Sure, Amelia’s got a strange fascination with obscure cold case mysteries and fancies herself somewhat of an internet sleuth, but hey, we’ve all got our hobbies.

Things go so smoothly, in fact, that Calliope almost forgets about her penchant for spontaneously being met with disaster until a certain orange-haired lady bursts into the GawrBucks.

And _bursts_ is almost an understatement, really. Because this woman literally smashes into the doors of the quiet little coffee shop, shaking the ground with surprising force and nearly causing Calliope to scald herself on another customer’s brew. As Calliope checks the time— 2am, AKA the time when all the weirdo appear _and_ a whole thirty minutes before her shift ends— this noisy little lady stumbles to the counter with rather undue haste, as if she’s trying to hide from something.

“One frappucino,” she immediately orders, her head bowed to the floor. The fact that she won’t look Calliope in the eye is weird enough, but now that she’s close, Calli notices all the other weird things about her. Her jacket is oversized, and way too bulky for the hot weather they’ve been having; plus, what are those... horrible fake glasses she’s wearing? Wait, do they even have lenses in the frame?

Amelia gives Calli a sympathetic look before turning back to the latte she’s working on, confirming that this woman is up to Calli now. “Uh, sure,” Calliope says, pointing at the menu. “What flavor, ma’am?”

 _”Flavor?”_ She looks up at the menu and, wow, she’s got an obviously tacked-on moustache too. This is probably the worst disguise Calliope has ever seen. What the fuck is going on with this customer? “Well... what flavor would you get?”

“Water,” Calliope answers a little too honestly, and it gets a snort out of the woman. Well, at least her snarky 2am response seemed to go over well. “Look, most people like our pumpkin spice frappucino, so how about one of those? It’s orange, too, like...”

 _Like the entirety of you,_ Calliope barely manages to avoid pointing out. Orange hair, orange shirt, orange hat... “Sounds good to me,” she agrees readily, flashing Calliope a bright smile that nearly blinds her. The glistening pearly-whites of this lady’s teeth is way too much for 2am in the fucking morning.

Calliope punches her order into the register, and when the lady pays, she takes full notice of the impressive black borders of her credit card. Isn’t this the kind of card you can only afford if you’re mega-rich? Well, Calli won’t ask how she got here, but she must be doing well if she’s got a—

—a—

“Ta... Taka...” Calliope’s eyes fly wide open, and if she wasn’t awake before from the woman’s sudden intrusion, she’s definitely on full alert now. She re-reads the name on the credit card several times, and each time, it screams out the same unmistakable name. “Takanashi Kiara?! Holy f-word, it’s _you?”_

“Oh no,” Kiara immediately says, and she seems to scan the shop for an escape route before suddenly taking a good look at Calliope. Then, her entire body freezes up in pure shock, familiar amethyst eyes meeting the deep pinks of Calliope’s own. “Oh... oh my _goodness,_ it _can’t_ be! Is it you, Calli?!”

It’s been years since Calliope’s seen Kiara, but holy shit, this is a transformation if she’s ever seen one. The clingy childhood friend of ages past seems almost reborn, emblazoned in gorgeous orange locks and a stunningly pretty face Calli’s only just taking notice of. “It’s been so long,” Calliope laughs, finally swiping the credit card before stretching her hand out to return it to Kiara. “Man, how have you been—”

Kiara promptly ignores her credit card, before throwing her hands around Calliope and smashing her lips against Calli’s cheek, fake moustache and all. “I’ve missed you soooo much! Mwah!”

Oh. Well.

Calliope’s thoughts rush from _what the fuck_ to _hey I didn’t consent to that_ to _well damn I guess you’re European but that’s a forward hello_. “Arrghagha,” is all she manages to blurt out before Amelia grabs the back of her long, pink hair and yanks her away from Kiara.

“Hey,” Amelia interrupts sternly. “No making out during work hours!”

“We were not _making out,”_ Calliope desperately clarifies, but Kiara seems to put in no effort on her part to correct this misunderstanding. She finally tosses off all her weird disguises, before pulling Calliope back to her, unintentionally engaging Amelia in a tug-of-war where the only thing at stake is Calliope’s dignity.

“You look amazing now, Calli! That get-up really suits you, and your hair? It’s perfect! You’re beautiful!” Kiara showers Calliope in a rain of compliments, and maybe Calli would enjoy it more if Amelia wasn’t still tugging on her hair with a surprisingly powerful grip. “Are you a model? You have to be a model! Oh my god, you’re just so—”

One of the customers in the store suddenly pipe up. “Hey, that orange lady... isn’t that the idol...?”

“Uh oh,” Kiara squeaks, and she pulls away before tossing Calliope a business card and zipping up her jacket. “Looks like I’ve got to go!”

“Wha... what?” Calliope blinks, trying to make sense of whatever the fuck is happening, but before she can say a word, Kiara’s already at the door, slamming it open with impressive speed. “Wait! I haven’t even made your frappucino yet!”

“You can bring it to my house,” Kiara yells back, and— Calliope isn’t sure if its 2am and she’s tripping, or if Kiara really _did_ just shoot her a wink before blowing her a kiss. “Call me!”

And with that, she’s out the door, leaving the GawrBucks in an awkward silence that one can only replicate in the dead hours of the morning in 24/7 food outlets where the fabric of reality begins to cross into the realm of the fae.

Amelia steps forward, giving Calliope a proud slap on the back and a strong nod. “Wow, Calli, just three days on the job and you’ve already about to get laid!”

Calliope finally snaps back into the mortal realm. “What the f-word?!”

“What?” Amelia shrugs. “She did invite you to her house. Oh, and...” She picks up the black credit card on the counter. “Look like she left this, too.”

Calliope immediately snatches it out of Amelia’s hands. “Oh my god, she left her credit card. F-wording s-word, now I _have_ to call her!”

Amelia blinks. “You can swear on the job, you know...”

\-----

_Yo!!_

_Is this Kiara? :}_

_YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Oh wow, very enthusiastic!_

_It’s Calliope. You left your credit card here._

_oh don’t worry about that thing you can keep it_

_BUT CALLI I’M SO GLAD YOU TEXTED I’VE BEEN WAITING AT MY PHONE SINCE I RAN OUT THE STORE!!!!!!_

__

__

_Wow, really?_

_I would’ve texted before my shift ended if I knew you were waiting on me._

_And... wait, what? I can’t keep your credit card, dude. Let me return it to you._

_sure sure!!!_

_here’s my address!!!!!_

_I... WOW_

_Well I’ll hop over tomorrow morning to return your credit card to you. And I’ll bring the frappucino. 8}_

_Why’d you run out of the store, anyway?_

_just didn’t want to get recognized!!!!!_

_my last single Heart Challenger got a looooot of attention and i’m always running away from paparazzi!!!!!!!_

_Oh damn that’s cool! So you’re a singer?_

_Wait._

_HEART CHALLENGER?_

_YOU’RE THE IDOL TENCHOU?_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter!
> 
> I made a twitter @antelopunny to tweet this to Calliope (mostly because I'm really proud of myself for writing again after such a long time), though I don't expect her to read it haha, she probably gets a million pings a day. I'll do my best to keep writing and creating so, as per Calli's advice (start creating stop tweeting LOL), I probably won't tweet much myself, but I do check it once in a while.
> 
> Hope to see you guys again soon with chapter 2!


End file.
